We all know the importance of social media when it comes to engaging with our customers – old and new. Here at Buzz HQ we love social media and wanted to share ten pretty weird things we’ve found out about it that could potentially help your social media strategy.

1. Although Twitter is an important part of many social media strategies, did you know that Instagram actually has more users? In 2015 Instagram had 400 million monthly active users whereas Twitter only had 320 million. Granted, this is still a lot of users. But it’s certainly something worth thinking about when you’re considering how you want to reach your customers. Instagram was originally seen as a bit of a fad – but from these figures it’s not a good idea to ignore it.

2. Think Facebook is a thing of the past? Well, think again. According to the Pew Research Centre, 72% of adults online in the USA now use Facebook. For adult online users from the USA aged between 18 and 29 this jumps to a whopping 82%. Clearly Facebook is something not to be ignored when you’re thinking about your social media strategy.

3. Thinking of giving Pinterest a miss? Research done by the good old Pew Research Centre suggests this isn’t a good idea. They’ve found that out of all adults in the USA who are online, almost one third of them uses Pinterest. And if your customers are female, it may come as a surprise that this figure jumps to 44%. If your target audience is primarily in the UK then you may think this is just a fad in the USA. But an article in the Guardian last June reported that Pinterest had doubled its number of users in the UK over the past year.

4. According to one source, the amount of time spent on social media by its worldwide users per day is 2.4 hours. We think this is a pretty big chunk out of anyone’s day.

5. Snapchat is growing. According to one source, since it launched, Snapchat has grown at a greater speed than any other social-networking site. With 100 million users, it’s still behind the big ones. But definitely worth keeping an eye on and thinking about how it could help your business reach its customers.

6. One bit of research has found that people active on social media equate to nearly a third of the world’s population. Crazy, eh?

7. A study done last year found that videos are still the best way to engage with your Facebook followers.

8. Some research from Dove found that 82% of women believe social medial is influencing how we define beauty. Bit random but shows the serious power social media can have.

9. Not totally relevant to social media for business use but Times Magazine recently reported that men are more likely to share their feelings with their social media followers than with their partner. Weird but true.

10. You may wonder if social media can help your business at all. Is it suitable? Well, if business owners in Kuwait can use Instagram to sell sheep, then we’re pretty sure there’s a place for your business, too. Yes, really, Instagram to sell sheep. We love it.